


cheer me to victory

by fanxyflower



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Basketball Player Chanyeol, Bottom Kris Wu, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Meet-Cute, Sexual Tension, cheerleader Kris
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-04-20
Packaged: 2019-04-25 07:26:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14373828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fanxyflower/pseuds/fanxyflower
Summary: In order for Chanyeol to keep his basketball scholarship and get on his dream team, he needs a tutor. Meet Kris: Economics major and certified tutor on the cheerleading squad. Wait, what?





	cheer me to victory

**Author's Note:**

> this is a repost from my lj account yanet09 from like 2014.
> 
> this was also an entry for fanforyeol

Basketball is Chanyeol’s life.

He learned how to dribble a ball before he could walk and his first word was ‘ball’. It made his father proud. “My boy’s going to be the next big thing,” he would tell his friends as toddler Chanyeol chased after the basketball on chubby legs.

See, Chanyeol’s father was a high school basketball coach and his mother ran a family restaurant so money was sometimes a little tight for the Park household. Chanyeol showing such an interest in basketball as such a young age gave the Park family something to focus on, build upon, and foster into greatness so that, when the time came, Chanyeol would get into college.

College was the end goal of everything in the Park’s mind. Chanyeol’s mother would harp about how Chanyeol has to eat more so he can grow strong and get into college, or he needs to go to sleep earlier so he will be well rested so he can get into college, or how he should hurry and clean his room so he’ll be organized for when he goes off to college and he was barely six years old when all that talk happened. So, yeah, college was a must.

Getting in to college was easy enough. While Chanyeol wasn’t the best student academically, he was all but guaranteed for the athletic scholarship to any university of his choice. All he had to do was keep his grade at or above a C average and he was golden for the future he always dreamed about.

Right now he’s just playing regular college ball but the Seoul Samsung Thunders were Chanyeol’s dream; his ultimate goal in life was to be on their team. He wanted that white, blue, and yellow jersey to show how hard he worked to get to that moment and bask in the glory that his many fans surely would shower him in.

But, now that he’s in college, he’s hit a snag. Turns out C’s and D’s don’t cut in college. There’s this thing called “academic probation” that basically says you can’t take any classes for a whole semester. Under normal circumstances Chanyeol wouldn’t care because, as he’s said before, basketball is his life. He’s doing the classes because he has to. He figures that since he’s an asset to his team, being the captain and all, it doesn’t matter what his grades are as long as his transcript says he passed. The college has different ideas though.

If he doesn’t pass his final math class he’ll be put on academic probation, taken off the basketball team, and lose his scholarship to boot! That can’t happen, Chanyeol can’t let that happen. College is expensive; his family can’t afford it on a high school coach and small restaurant owner’s salary, and there’s no way Chanyeol could get a job and still practice and pass his classes, there’s just no way.

Chanyeol was backed into a corner faced with all of his mistakes and all the time he wasted having a social life when he could have studied more. But then he looks at his lovely basketball. Everything he has ever done was so that he could play the game he loves with all his heart and he’ll be damned if something as minimal as grades comes in between him and his life’s dream.

There were only two choices. Either cram for the Mid-term, do all of the extra credit work his teacher had been kind enough to offer, Chanyeol’s teacher is an all-around sports fan after all, or get a tutor.

Getting a tutor sounded less stressful.

His math teacher gave him a list of recommended tutors and wished him luck. Chanyeol scans over the list briefly before he decides to call up the first one as he approaches the gym for his team’s practice.

A tutor’s a tutor, right? One’s just as good as the next one; Chanyeol’s sure.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kris is a diligent student; he lives for books and the knowledge they hold.

Academics have always been Kris’ calling and, to be completely honest, athletics didn’t interest him much until he hit puberty.

Growing up in China, everything is straight from the book; you either understand or you don’t. Everything can be understood if explained correctly. Theories, for example, are the basis of Kris’ everyday life. You can hand him a book about anything from how plants grow to how stars are formed and he’ll understand it all perfectly. In theory, if Kris applies himself correctly, he could do and be anything as long as he went by the book.

Sports are a prime example of this; there are tons of books on sports like basketball, volleyball, football, soccer, and even Ping-Pong. Kris has read a few of them, tried them out, and quickly wrote them off as a waste of his time. Why should he keep playing if everything is laid out for him in the simplest way possible?

But then he read up on gymnastics. Kris isn’t exactly the most rhythmic of people but it jumped out at him; it provided a challenge. You could read about gymnastics all day and night but when it comes time to put theory into action, there’s a humongous margin for error.

That’s what brought him to cheerleading. Don’t believe whatever your friends or the media has said about it, cheerleading is a sport and the people that do it aren’t always bubblegum popping, sassy ass, know it all, hyper bitches. Really, they’re not. Look at Kris for example.

Okay, bad example for the most part but at least he’s not hyper all the time.

The point is, Kris is proud to be a cheerleader. He’s proud that he has been able to master most all theories he’s come across and there’s always a challenge waiting around the corner.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is not what Chanyeol had in mind.

On his way back from practice, he called the first tutor on the list. She had said she was too busy with her school work but wished him luck anyway. He then called the second one, only to receive an ear full about how much funding the sports program is taking from the arts and to not call him again.

With a sigh, Chanyeol switched directions towards the little café, Tea Time, just across the street of a building that houses other classes that Chanyeol can’t be bothered to think about while he’s busy smelling freshly brewed coffee and mouthwatering muffins.

Ordering a banana nut muffin and a strawberry power shake, Chanyeol sits down at a table just left of the door and looks at the list again. There’s a group of people huddled around the booths towards the back of the café but they aren’t too loud so Chanyeol thinks he can still make phone calls in peace.

The next person on the list has a foreign name. Chanyeol almost skips right over them but figures it’s worth a try. Foreigners are always extra nice, right? Well, Chanyeol’s about to find out.

He quickly dials the number and waits patiently for the receiver to pick up his call. He briefly hears a phone go off around the people at the booths but quickly dismisses it as he hears a deep voice answer, “ _Hello?_ ”

“Yes,” Chanyeol answers, “is this Kris Wu?”

“ _Yeah_ ,” the receiver says, “ _may I ask who’s calling?_ ”

Chanyeol swears he’s hearing an echo but disregards it, thinking it’s either his or Kris’ phone. “My name is Park Chanyeol, I’m looking for a tutor and my math teacher recommended you.”

Kris clears his throat over the line and Chanyeol hears the commotion as, he assumes, Kris moves away from the noise around him. A tall guy gets up from the packed booth in the back and walks towards the café’s entrance by Chanyeol.

“What level math?” Kris asks and Chanyeol’s eyes widen as the man walking by him says the exact same words into his cell phone.

“The last one,” Chanyeol says a little too loud on purpose.

The man stops walking. “Chanyeol?” he says questioningly into his phone.

“Kris?” Chanyeol replies while tapping the standing man’s wrist.

“Oh,” Kris says dumbly into his phone.

“Yeah,” Chanyeol says. Closing his phone, he motions for Kris to take the seat opposite to him. As Chanyeol’s possible new tutor sits down, the light ghosts over his face and Chanyeol’s mouth runs dry.

Kris is stunning; from the blond hair to his thick eyebrows all the way down to his collarbones and visible shoulders, Kris is a good-looking man. Chanyeol didn’t really count on the list of tutors having hot nerds on it but, hey, Chanyeol thanks his lucky stars.

Chanyeol starts explaining his situation and Kris leans forward, no doubt trying to hear him over the ruckus of noise the booth he came from is making, and Chanyeol stutters when the dull light over his table catches on the finer details of Kris’ face.

There’s a subtle brush of glitter shimmering on his face and in his hair, his eyes are a deep brown, and his lips look really soft. Chanyeol really likes Kris’ face.

Kris taps a long finger on the table before moving to sit up straight again. “So, college algebra level two? Do you want to meet on the same day as your class?”

Chanyeol nods, still scoping over Kris’ face. “It ends at five on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”

“Done deal,” Kris states, getting up. His shirt rode up a little on his side exposing toned muscle and smooth skin to Chanyeol’s roaming eyeballs. “I’ll text you with details later. Nice meeting you, Chanyeol.” And then he strides back to the booth he came from leaving Chanyeol to absent mindedly chew on his muffin alone.

Chanyeol thinks he’s going to start liking math.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following Tuesday, Chanyeol meets Kris outside of their university library and tries to think of every unattractive thing in the world because Kris has thick rimmed glasses on, and if there’s one thing Chanyeol likes, it’s a man in glasses.

Kris nods in his direction, “You ready?” and gestures for Chanyeol to follow him.

As they walk inside, he starts to think about the midterm coming up next month. He starts to go over what he actually knows and wonders when someone decided it was okay to add letters to math. Chanyeol rolls his eyes, ‘Fucking idiots,’ he thinks.

Aimlessly following Kris, lost in his own thoughts, Chanyeol almost trips over the first stair step. Kris looks back and gestures up the stairs, “They have a study room with white boards upstairs,” and continues up the flight.

His book bag is making the bottom of his shirt rise, showing smooth, slightly tanned skin and Chanyeol blinks and looks down at the steps. He counts tree before he looks back up and they’re almost to the top when he notices Kris has back dimples.

Chanyeol needs to breathe.

Once at the top of the stairs, Kris beelines to a door just on the left and Chanyeol scurries behind him and into the room. He rushes to sit as Kris uncaps a marker.

“First things first, tell me what you know.” Kris puts his backpack down and readies himself to write and Chanyeol most definitely does not notice how his shirt rises again.

“A squared plus B squared equals C squared!” Kris nods and writes it on the board. “Y equals Mx plus B.” Kris nods again, writing it under the first formula and Chanyeol racks his brain for another. “Ax squared plus Bx plus C equals zero?” And Kris adds it to the list.

And then he waits.

And waits some more.

When he turns around to face Chanyeol, he tilts his head and raises one of his thick eyebrows. “Okay,” he draws out the ‘o’ in what can only be interpreted as astonishment for how far behind Chanyeol is. “I’m going to assume you can’t remember the rest because of stress.”

“Yeah… you think that.”

Kris chuckles, “Okay, how about we talk about angles.” And he draws a scalene triangle on the board. “Let’s do this for today and then next time we’ll dive in to everything else.”

He labels the sides A, B, and C and then he hesitates to write something before turning around and leaning down so he and Chanyeol are leveled face to face.

Chanyeol’s eyes drift down to Kris’ lips. They’re pink and kissable and his mouth is so small—

“You’re going to have to take notes, man.” And stands back up. He says something else as he resumes jotting down notes for Chanyeol to copy, and he asks questions to keep him involved. All in all he’s a great tutor; Chanyeol’s glad the others he called before didn’t work out.

When their study session is over Chanyeol feels like “SOHCAHTOA” is tattooed onto his brain and he thinks he might pass his midterm.

And when he and Kris part ways at the library entrance, Kris smiling politely as his hair burns gold in the sunlight, Chanyeol thinks he might like math from now on.

And by math, he means Kris.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Three weeks later Chanyeol is starting to feel himself getting better at math.

He’s been working with Kris and participating in class, rarely, mind you, but he’s doing it, and is feeling more and more confident about his basketball scholarship.

And to Chanyeol’s immense excitement, him and Kris have been getting along great, despite a maybe, slightly minor mental flub he had about a week ago.

 

_“Okay, I know these problem sets can get a hard, but I need you to try for me.”_

_Things weren’t going that well this secession. Chanyeol was having trouble focusing; basketball practice the day before was torture and his legs are still screaming. Plus, his brain decided Kris in his cheer practice clothes is the only important thing happening here._

_It’s their second Thursday together and Kris told him he has an emergency cheer practice he’s going to right after their study secession. He came dressed in the same pink tank top with white sweat pants that hugged his legs in all the right places and Chanyeol’s mind is singing praises._

_“Try this one,” Kris says, leaning into his space and pointing to a line of letters and numbers. “Try expanding this polynomial.”_

_“I’d like to try expanding your polynomial.” Chanyeol mutters, clicking his mechanical pencil._

_And then he freezes, whipping his head to face Kris, eyes open wide. Kris is blinking like he’s confused, but something on his face says he saw this coming. Chanyeol hasn’t really been subtle with his crush; it was bound to come out sooner or later._

_But now he’s nervous. He opens his mouth, doesn’t know what he’s going to say, but Kris beats him to the punch._

_“How do you do that?” There’s a small smile on his face as he backs up, turns around and sits on the table right beside Chanyeol and his hand that’s clutching his pencil and way too close to Kris’ thighs._

_“Um,” he shifts his eyes from the problem on the paper to Kris’ thighs, and then looks back up at Kris. “What?”_

_Kris actually does chuckle a little at that. “How do you expand a polynomial? Tell me why that line you used works.”_

_Chanyeol gulps and looks down to his paper. “Um,” he starts, “you write it long hand. So the, um,”_

_“6,” Kris chimes in._

_“6?”_

_Kris points to the third problem on the list, “6x to the fourth power.”_

_“Yeah, that.” Chanyeol feels sheepish, “You write it like 6 and then x times x times x times x.”_

_“Which means the pick up line works because…” Kris is openly smiling._

_Chanyeol blushes, eyes darting back and forth from Kris’ eyes to his thighs, and starts stuttering._

_Kris laughs and pats Chanyeol’s head. “You’re cute, Chanyeol.”_

 

But was a loaded ‘You’re cute’, or a ‘You’re cute’ like a kid, cute? It’s been messing with Chanyeol ever since and he really wants to ask but he feels like asking something like that would be too much right now.

Kris did tell him, though, that it was a good sign if he could use math pick up lines and understand them, so he’s been making an extra effort to say them more often. Every time he says one, Kris looks at him, smiles and makes him explain why it works.

He really wants to count it as flirting because one time he called Kris a 30-degree angle and the square root of -1 and he blushed. Blushed! He’s so cute!

And smart!

And tall~!

And—

“We get it, we get it, oh my goodness. Your tutor is ultimate bae material now pass the ball!”

Their basketball coach decided to add Saturdays to their practice schedule in preparation for their hectic season coming up. Now the team practices every Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. Chanyeol and his friends got to the gym pretty early so they have some free time before it actually starts. Chanyeol and his friends decided to make some free throws while they waited.

Chanyeol passes the ball to Jongin and he watches as he runs and dunks the ball in the net. Two sets of hands grab him and lead him towards where Jongin’s standing right by the net.

“Okay, lover boy,” Jongin starts, “Luhan and Minseok are betting this hot nerd you’re hiding is really some short, mousey type with Harry Potter glasses.”

Chanyeol exaggerates a deep gasp, “How could you doubt me?!” He shakes out of their grip and raises his hands to the sky. “My friends don’t trust me, Lord.”

Luhan swats at his chest, laughing, “Oh, stop being dramatic!”

Jongin wraps his around Chanyeol’s shoulders, “I believe you, buddy. I bet he’s a dime. Ten out of ten would bang.”

“Ooh, I’m going to tell Kyungsoo.” Minseok teases, and Jongin jokingly glares at him.

“You always instigating, sit down.”

“Preferably on my lap,” Luhan chimes and they all burst out laughing.

They hear the coach’s whistle and jog over to the bleachers.

“Since Saturday’s are usually just for cheerleading practices, we’re only going to use half the court. Start warm ups on the left half.” He blew his whistle again after he finished.

Chanyeol couldn’t keep the smile off his face. Cheerleaders means Kris, and, if Kris is coming, that means Chanyeol can show him that he’s actually good at something.

This is going to be great!

“Dude, why are you making that face?” Jongin asks, face scrunched in confusion as he stretches his shoulders.

Minseok’s stretching his hamstrings on the floor when he looks up. “We keep telling you, you look crazy when you smile that hard.”

Luhan bends backwards and Chanyeol hears his back pop, “He never listens to us.”

Then the main doors to the gymnasium open and a flurry of people in dark green shorts flow inside. They’re all talking low as they set up on the right side of the court and Chanyeol spots Kris.

Chanyeol waves excitedly and Kris smiles and waves back before turning to talk to a tall boy with black hair.

Luhan squints at Chanyeol, “Who are you waving at?”

“My tutor,” he says.

Their coach blows his whistle as Luhan, Minseok, and Jongin fall over themselves to get a good look at the cheer squad. “What!” They all exclaim.

“Which one?” Jongin demands as they start walking towards their team huddle.

Luhan points to where Kris is standing and Minseok gasps, “Tao? You’re flirting with Zitao?”

“What?” Jongin’s eyes slowly start widening, “you know Sehun will kill you if you even think abou—”

“No! No! The blond one!”

Luhan and Minseok’s eyes get really wide and Jongin nudges him like a proud older brother.

“Get it, Chanyeol~. Get them good grades—”

“And then get that D!” Luhan interrupts. Minseok tries to hit him, but he ducks and skips away.

They get to the huddle and the coach splits them up into two teams; Chanyeol is with Jongin while Minseok and Luhan.

The cheerleaders start stretching as soon as the boys start their practice game and Chanyeol’s eyes find Kris without even trying.

Meanwhile, Jongin has the ball. He runs up the court, dashes to the left and passes the ball to Chanyeol.

At least, you know, it would have been a pass if Chanyeol hadn’t have been zoned into the wrong thing and the ball bounces off his arm and into Minseok’s hands.

Jongin gives him a look and Chanyeol knows he needs to get focused. But his eyes dart back over to where he saw Kris last and, oh. He’s looking back at him.

Kris gives him an expectant look and Chanyeol is immediately focused. He dashes across the court and steals the ball when Minseok goes to pass it, sprints to avoid the opposite team before doing a lay-up and the ball falls into the net, giving Chanyeol’s team the point.

He looks over his shoulder and, just past Jongin’s head, he sees Kris smiling and giving him a thumbs up.

“Good job, lover boy,” Jongin teases. “Keep it up!”

Chanyeol can get used to this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

After practice is over, the sun is still out and, although a little chilly, it’s pretty outside.

He’s sweaty, though; all he wants to do is lay down. Jongin, Luhan, and Minseok all have the same idea he does, so they lay in the grass just outside of the gym and say their goodbyes to their other teammates as they walk past.

They stay there for about thirty minutes, then Luhan and Minseok left for a soccer thing, and a little while later Jongin got a call from his boyfriend, Kyungsoo, and left right after.

Chanyeol’s not really sure what he’s waiting for until he hears a babble of voices heading his way. He sits up, still on the ground, and sees the green shorts and figures the cheer practice just ended.

His eyes scan the crowd for Kris and find him talking to Tao. They look like they’re having a good time and, actually, none of the cheerleaders look tired at all. He remembers seeing them throw each other in the air, do all kinds of crazy flips, and basically be way too athletic to still be walking around like they went out for a light jog.

Chanyeol’s really impressed.

He want’s to say something to Kris, call out a ‘good job’ or maybe start up a conversation not about math and he finds himself kind of staring at Kris with his mouth half open.

When Tao gestures to Chanyeol and says something, Kris turns around and locks eyes with him.

He immediately shuts his mouth. He probably looked like a fish with his mouth open like that, so he tries for a smile but he feels like it’s tugging too tight on his face. Kris smiles back, but Tao looks passively confused.

Kris says some to Tao and then waves at him as he walks towards Chanyeol.

“Hey,” Kris starts.

Maybe if Chanyeol acts cool, Kris will think he is. “Hey, yourself.” Nailed it.

Kris huffs a tiny laugh and Chanyeol builds up the courage to say, “You guys were great in there!”

Kris looks up for a second with a smile on his face before rubbing the back of his neck with his hand, “Yeah, thanks.” Bashful is cute on him.

A surprised laugh comes out of Kris’ mouth as he bends to sit beside Chanyeol, “Thanks, you’re pretty cute yourself.”

Chanyeol’s eyes widen when he notices he said that out loud. “Um,” he hesitates and Kris smiles at him, “thanks?”

Kris nods.

“Thanks,” he says more confidently and Kris cocks his head.

“Do you want to get coffee with me?” Kris asks. “Tea Time is pretty close to here, remember it?”

Chanyeol nods, “It’s where we met.”

“Right.”

With the smile Kris is shooting his way, it takes everything in him to not say yes too quickly. So, he nods.

“Perfect!” Kris gets up, full of energy, and offers Chanyeol a hand.

Chanyeol takes it, smiling big and bright.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

At Tea Time, Chanyeol and Kris are sitting a cross from each other in a booth by the front entrance.

Kris is nursing a gingerbread latte and taking small bites of pumpkin bread while Chanyeol is sipping a birthday cake milkshake and dipping vanilla bean scones into it sporadically.

As he idly watches Kris eat, he starts to wonder what he should say, what they can even talk about that’s not math related.

Chanyeol’s racking his brain trying to find something, anything, and, as he’s thinking, Kris watches as he dips part of his scone into his milkshake and then bites it. Somehow Chanyeol missed his mouth a little because he has a small trail of milkshake running down his chin and some crumbs from the scone and sprinkles from the milkshake are stuck to his chin.

Kris looks at him and dons this tight-lipped smile like he’s trying not to laugh. Chanyeol lifts his eyebrows.

“You’ve got a little something,” he states. “Right there,” and he gestures to Chanyeol’s chin.

Chanyeol’s face scrunches up in confusion as he starts to blindly wipe his chin, but Kris stops him. “Here,” he says while reaching for something, “use this.” He passes him a napkin and Chanyeol nods his thanks.

As he wipes his face, he starts to blush. “I’m usually not this messy.”

Kris chuckles, “It’s okay, you’re cute,” and pops another piece of pumpkin bread into his mouth.

Kris probably doesn’t get that he just singlehandedly rocked Chanyeol’s world. He tells himself to stay calm, but he can’t stop the blush that rises to his cheeks.

They are now mutually cute together; Chanyeol’s so excited.

Kris brought up Chanyeol’s basketball practice, and he’s finally in his element. He calms down and has an actual conversation with Kris and, judging by the way Kris responds and laughs, he did pretty well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two more tutoring secessions pass by, that’s two more days of math pick up lines and Kris making him explain why they work as pick up lines.

He’s getting less and less embarrassed about those the more they go over them. This is a milestone that needs to be made fun of in his friend’s eyes.

It’s Saturday again; the team is taking a water and stretch beak as the cheerleaders run through a routine on the right side of the court.

“Tell us everything!” Luhan is being nosey while Jongin and Minseok egg him on.

He sees Kris do a back flip from the corner of his eye and tries not to show how impressed he is. “There isn’t anything else to tell! I’ve literally told you guys everything!” Chanyeol explains right before he downs a cup of water.

“No,” Jongin teases, “you told us you tell him math pick up lines, of all things, and that he’s called you cute a lot.” He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively, “You know what you need now?”

“Don’t say it. Don’t say it!”

“A wingman, oh, my goodness, this is going to be great. We are the perfect wingmen, Chanyeol!” Luhan is way too excited and he’s conspiring with Jongin.

This is not okay.

“Minseok!” Chanyeol pleads, “Stop them!”

Minseok’s laughing at him, arm slung around their team’s water boy, Joonmyun, and Chanyeol thinks maybe, just maybe, he has one more shot to stop this.

“Joonmyun, Joonmyun, please. Stop them,” he begs and Joonmyun coos.

“I think it’s sweet,” Joonmyun is delusional and cannot be helped or trusted. “They want to help you get your—holy crap!” He exclaims while staring bug eyed at the cheerleaders.

“What?” Luhan and Jongin ask at the same time. Joonmyun points and they, including Chanyeol, all turn to see what’s happening.

“Wow, Chanyeol, your boyfriend is strong!” Minseok says in awe and, really Chanyeol is surprised, too.

Kris is standing in a horizontal line with four other boys, all of which have a girl standing on one of their hands way over their heads, and they all have perfect posture and don’t seem to be straining.

They let the girls down shortly after but it remains that Kris is strong and Chanyeol is awestruck.

Kris is amazing.

When they turn back around, Joonmyun looks very approving. “Good job, Chanyeol.”

Minseok chimes in, “And he’s smart! Economics major.”

“I’m impressed!” Joonmyun smiles.

Chanyeol blushes and goes to reply but Jongin beats him to the punch.

“I have the perfect idea,” he says. “Chanyeol follow my lead.” And he races over towards the half court line and then ‘trips’.

Joonmyun looks skeptical, Minseok looks unimpressed, Chanyeol is confused, and Luhan is not amused.

“That was literally the most staged fake trip I have ever seen in my life.” Luhan says and the other three nod slowly in agreement.

“Oh, no!” Jongin says loudly. “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”

Minseok is rolling his eyes as Luhan sighs and starts to walk towards him. “Jongin,” he starts.

When Luhan gets close enough to grab him, he asks, “Of all the thing’s you could of thought of, man, come on.”

Jongin has a twinkle in his eyes that Luhan knows means mischief and, as Jongin reaches for his hand, it clicks why.

“Don’t you dare,” he hisses and Jongin smiles before putting his bad actor face back on.

“Thanks, friend,” Jongin says loud enough for a good amount of people to hear. He reaches for Luhan’s hand and yanks.

“Yah!” Luhan yells as he hits the floor right beside Jongin.

“Play along,” he whispers as he cuts his eyes at him.

“You’re trash,” Luhan whispers back before making to get up.

“Don’t!” Jongin exclaims softly.

Luhan rolls his eyes, “Fine.” He takes in a deep breath and sighs as loud as he can. “Oh, no,” he cries ironically. “My back!”

“Oh will anyone help our poor souls?” Jongin is laying it on thick.

By now a good amount of both the basketball team and the cheerleading squad are watching Jongin and Luhan makes fools of them selves with looks that range from confused to highly amused.

Minseok and Joonmyun are idly sipping water as Chanyeol tries not to lock eyes with Kris.

But of course he does, he always does. Kris looks right at him with an amused expression on his face and nodding towards Jongin and Luhan like Chanyeol can help their special kind of crazy. Beside Kris is Tao, who is most likely going to tell Sehun everything that happens here is crystal clear detail, and the girl that Kris lifted earlier, Victoria.

She’s talking to Tao and Kris when they both burst out laughing and nodding like she told a good joke. Then all three of them look back at Chanyeol, expectant, and Chanyeol sighs, a light blush creeping onto his face.

He starts walking towards his friends and braces himself for extra embarrassment.

“Chanyeol!” Jongin exclaimed, managing to look relieved and constipated at the same time, “Our hero!”

Luhan tries to force a relieved air into his voice, but he ends up sounding a little miffed. “Good, our best buddy, Chanyeol, who would never let us down is here to save the day! I’m so happy!”

He looks everything but.

“Say it.” Jongin whispers harshly.

“No.” Luhan replies just as soft and just as harsh.

“Come on!”

“No!”

“You have to really sell it!”

“Then you say it!”

“I’ve already said so much!”

“Well too bad!”

“Guys,” Chanyeol tries to cut in, awkwardly whispering even though it’s almost painfully obvious what’s going on now.

“Luhaaaaaaan,” Jongin whines and you can see Luhan’s resolve break.

“Fine! But so help me, if Sehun rubs this in my face, you’re a dead man.” He glares and then clears his throat. “Chanyeol, you’re here!” Like he hasn’t been standing there during the previous argument.

“Yeah…?” Chanyeol’s a little worried where he’s going with this.

“I’m so glad!” Luhan looks like he’s in physical pain now, “We really need a big, strong manly man like you to help us out! Please help us up!” Dear lord.

It really is too bad Chanyeol can’t enjoy this properly like literally everyone else in the gym is, because that line coupled with that look of rage aimed at Jongin is gold and, aimed at anyone else, Chanyeol would be rolling on the floor laughing his lungs out.

Since it’s directed towards him, Chanyeol decides that it definitely is not him blushing that’s making his face so warm, and he most definitely did not here Kris’ hearty laugh, and, no, he does not see his team acting like this is the most action they’ve seen in years.

With a deep breath to gain his composure, Chanyeol bends down and reaches for Luhan. “Are you okay now?” He asks oddly loud, mainly to save face rather than actually caring.

Luhan nods excitedly and says, “Thanks, best friend, Chanyeol!” then hisses, “I’m going to kill him; hurry up and say your goodbyes.” And then he speed walks to Minseok, who’s still laughing as he hugs him.

Chanyeol leans down to get Jongin next and mumbles, “Your turn, drama queen.”

Jongin springs up with little to no help from Chanyeol at all and he’s pretty sure everyone knows.

“My savior!” he exclaims. “I have been saved my Captain, oh happy day, I’m saved!”

“I will do everything in my power to bench you.”

He immediately snaps back to a regular human being. “And we’re done here.” Clapping his hands, he looks around the gym, “Thanks for being a wonderful audience and—”

“The bench.”

“Okay, okay,” and Jongin high tails it back to where they were all standing before.

The gymnasium is still full of laughter and an all around good feeling is stuck in the air. Chanyeol can still feel the blush on his face when Kris, Tao, and Victoria walk over to him.

Kris is smiling, but his head is cocked to the side like he doesn’t want to assume anything. “That was some show you guys put on.”

Tao and Victoria nod, giggling just behind Kris.

“Yeah, well,” Chanyeol starts, sheepish smile and blush in place, “they were, um, trying to be my wingmen.”

Kris nods like something clicked and he liked the outcome. “I didn’t know you needed one?”

Chanyeol’s eyes widen, “I don’t?”

Kris shakes his head, a faint blush crawls on his cheeks. “You’re cute.”

Chanyeol smiles as big as possible. “You’re cute, too!”

They smile at each other for about three seconds before the coaches for both basketball and cheerleading calls everyone to get ready to resume practice.

And as Chanyeol turns to walk back to his friends, he hears Tao and Victoria tease Kris about how cute his boyfriend is.

When he gets over to his friends, he gives Jongin a big bear hug and calls him the best wingman ever.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s the Tuesday before his math midterm and Chanyeol is stressing himself out.

He’s trying his level best to stay focused and actually retain the information Kris is teaching him, but it’s just not sticking and it’s making him mad.

He tries not to get visibly upset but, by the way Kris sighs, he can tell he’s not doing a good job.

“I’m sorry,” Chanyeol huffs. “It’s just, like, everything is going right through me and I don’t know what’s going on.” He stares at the board and wonders when Kris put all that information up there and sighs.

Kris frowns, “You’re just stressed.” He moves from the board to stand beside Chanyeol’s chair. “Try to relax; we’ve been over this stuff before. You know it.”

“No, I don’t,” Chanyeol bemoans his life. He scoots his chair out from under the table and faces Kris. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s not you, you’re great, I’m just dumb, and I’m going to fail, and I bet the test is going to be full of questions about cosecants and velocity and all these freaking formulas and I just don’t get—”

Chanyeol can’t even finish his emotional breakdown rant because, all of a sudden, he’s got a lap full of Kris and he’s too confused to comprehend things right now.

“Calm down,” Kris says, like he’s not straddling his lap, like they haven’t been kind of flirting for the last couple of months.

Chanyeol blinks three times before taking a deep breath and then bows his head.

Kris coos softly as he cups his hands around Chanyeol’s face and gently lifted it up.

Looking him in the eyes, Kris says, “You have worked so hard, and your progress is amazing. You are going to do fine, Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol’s eyes are wide and he’s knows he’s blushing. He gulps and his eyes dart down to Kris’ lips before looking back at his eyes. “Thanks,” he utters slowly.

Kris starts to smile, “No problem.” He scoots up and leans down and Chanyeol, for a split second has to stop himself from thinking about what Kris moving on his lap in different setting would be like, and then there are soft lips on his forehead.

They’re gone just as soon as he noticed they were there. Kris starts to lean back, shuffling on Chanyeol’s lap like he’s going to get up, and Chanyeol’s arms wrap around his waist.

Kris’ eyebrows shoot up in surprise and Chanyeol, testing the waters, slowly pulls him back up his lap.

It turns into a slow drag type of movement and they both are doing a lot of blushing at this point. Chanyeol leans up and sees Kris’ eyes flutter closed right before Chanyeol kisses him.

It’s a slow kiss, everything is slow right now, and Chanyeol’s arms tighten around him, pulling him closer, and Kris rocks along with it. He feels Kris grind down on him and lets out a gasp and Kris’ tongue invades his mouth, deepening the kiss, and Chanyeol’s brain short circuits.

He grabs Kris’ hips and pulls him down; a surprised moan comes out of his mouth.

Chanyeol kisses a trail down when Kris’ neck meets his shoulder and decides he want to see a hickey there. As he nurses that spot, Kris arches his back and keens as he starts grinding down harder on Chanyeol.

The hickey is a beautiful against Kris’ sun kissed skin and Chanyeol has to take a moment to breathe because Kris is dry humping him like a pro, moaning into Chanyeol’s ear and, oh, if Kris keep this up, Chanyeol’s going to have a mess in his pants.

“Chanyeol,” Kris pants, breathless, and it hits Chanyeol like a truck.

He chokes out a loud moan as his hips stutter and Kris stills over him. Kris blinks and then gives Chanyeol a dazed smile. “Did you come?”

When Chanyeol blushes and ducks his head, his eyes catch on the forgotten math problems and, to Chanyeol’s delight, they start making sense again.

Kris kisses his forehead again, “Cute.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s been a week since he took the midterm and he just got an email saying the grades are available online.

It takes everything in him to log in to his university’s website and, once he’s on his teacher’s page, he hesitates before clicking the link to his grades.

His roommate, Joonmyun isn’t there to motivate him, too busy with his boyfriend, Jongdae, no doubt, but Chanyeol needs something to make him check.

His phone is in his hand calling Kris before he even realizes it.

_“Hey, Chanyeol,”_ a deep voice answers. _“What’s up?”_

“My teacher posted the grades,” he says, “and I’m nervous.”

Kris chuckles, “Check it. I have faith in you.”

“Well, at least one of us does.” He nods, “Okay, I’m going for it.”

_“I’ll be right here.”_

Chanyeol slides the mouse over to the link and hovers there for a split second before closing his eyes and clicking it.

When he opens his eyes soon after, he can’t believe what he sees.

“78!” He proudly exclaims! “I got a C!”

_“You passed!”_ Kris sounds happy and he can hear him clapping through the phone. _“I’m so proud of you, Chanyeol; I knew you could do it!”_

“You’re the best!” He thanks. “I probably would have pulled a 20 without you, Kris. I can keep my scholarship!” He’s ecstatic and smiling so hard he know it’s creepy.

_“Thanks, and, no, I refuse to believe that. You just needed an extra push and I’m glad I could help.”_ Aw, Kris is so sweet.

Chanyeol is in a good mood now. “How about we go celebrate?”

_“Right now?”_

Chanyeol hums in agreement.

_“Okay. Tea Time in 30 minutes?”_

“Awesome,” Chanyeol bites his lip before continuing, “but, this time, let’s call it a date.”

_“A date?”_ Kris asks, his tone giving Chanyeol hope. _“I’d like that.”_

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Life is going great for Chanyeol.

His grade in math is at an all time high for him, his basketball team is on a winning streak, and he’s dating Kris, the best person ever.

It’s Monday and Chanyeol and basketball practice is just finishing when Chanyeol’s coach calls him over.

“Hey, Coach,” he greets. “What’s up?”

His coach smiles, “ I just wanted to tell you that I’m proud of you for passing your math test.”

Chanyeol smiles.

“But don’t get too comfortable; you don’t want to end up where we started. I talked to your teacher and I’ve got good news!”

Coach is smiling so Chanyeol gets excited, “What is it?”

“You only need to make a 76 to pass the class with a C. Judging by how seriously you took the midterm, I think you’ll make us proud.

Chanyeol may still be smiling but his coach definitely just hit his good vibe directly.

“Also,” Coach continues like he didn’t just remind Chanyeol how much he doesn’t like college. “There’s going to be a scout coming to our final play off game observing you guys.”

Well, that’s new.

“What team?”

Coach looks so proud, “The Seoul Samsung Thunders.”

“No way,” Chanyeol yells in excitement! “No way, Coach, they are my dream!”

“Kid, I didn’t have anything to do with it.” Coach looks at his watch and then back up at Chanyeol, smiling, “Keep up the good work; see you next practice!” And Chanyeol is left feeling more conflicted than he’s ever been in his life.

HE didn’t make a single shot during that practice match.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day is their tutoring day and Chanyeol is standing in front of Kris upperclassmen dorm building waiting to be let in.

While he waits, he starts thinking to himself about what he does and does not need to worry about. And, of course, everything he’s worrying about needs to be worried about.

When Kris comes out the main doors, he takes one look at Chanyeol and darts forward to hug him.

“I’m going to help you study; you’re going to do fine.” He says as he leads Chanyeol in and up three flights of stairs. On the third floor, Kris is a Resident’s Advisor. This means he has his own room so they aren’t disturbed.

They are alone in an actual room, closed off from the public, and all Chanyeol can think about is stupid math.

This sucks.

And, bless Kris, he’s trying really hard to get the information to click, and Chanyeol’s trying to meet him half way, but it’s not good enough.

“Chanyeol,” Kris sighs, “you have one more test left and then you’re done. I promise if you can push through this, you’ll be okay.”

“It’s not just this, though,” Chanyeol whines, “it’s basketball, too.”

Kris crosses his arms, “You’re great at basketball.”

“But am I pro ball good?” He sees Kris’ eyebrow quirk up and puts a hand over his face. “The Seoul Samsung Thunders is sending a scout! Here! They’re my dream team and their scout is coming to watch our last game and what if I suck because I’m too busy worrying about this math, because I’m too busy worrying about the game, because I’m—”

Kris kisses him. “I think you’re over thinking things.”

Chanyeol blinks. “But,” he starts.

“No buts.” Kris kisses him again and then says, “Pack your stuff; I have an idea.”

Chanyeol squints questioningly but does as he’s told. When he’s done, Kris takes his hand and leads him out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

They end up at the practice gymnasium and Chanyeol is not amused.

“Why are we here?”

“You’re going to learn about triangles. You’re also going to practice your free throw.” Kris tosses a basketball from the ball rack to Chanyeol and smiles.

Chanyeol doesn’t look convinced.

“Go to the free throw line.” Kris orders. Chanyeol moves slowly but gets there eventually.

“Do you know how long the average basketball court is?”

Response comes almost immediately. “28 meters by 15 meters.”

Kris grabs Chanyeol’s notebook off the floor and writes that down. “Okay,” he says, “but you’re at half court. Now what are the measurements?”

Chanyeol pauses and then, “14 meters by 15 meters.”

“Good,” Kris praises. “And how tall are you?”

“185 centimeters.”

“So, 1.85 meters, then.” Kris writes some more. “How high is the basket?”

Chanyeol squints at him, “Am I actually studying or are you checking my memory?”

Kris waves his hand not holding the notebook in a dismissive motion. “You’re studying and training, trust me and answer my questions.”

Chanyeol scowls before thinking, “3.05 meters.”

“Okay, now hold the ball like you’re about to shoot.”

Chanyeol huffs like a true martyr and does as he’s told.

“Don’t move,” Kris moves to circle around him, sporadically looking down at his papers. “Given the distance from you to the end of the court, and from the floor to the rim, what’s the distance between you and the rim?”

He puts his arms down and turns around to face, “Did you just tell me to find the hypotenuse?”

Kris pecks his lips, “Tell me the formula, babe.”

Chanyeol smiles despite himself and tries to focus. He starts absentmindedly dribbling the ball as he thinks. “14 squared plus 3.05 squared equals C squared.”

“And that is?” Moving into Chanyeol’s personal space.

“I can’t think about math when you’re this close to me,” Blush rising on his face as Kris smiles, “plus, I need a calculator.”

Kris pulls a scientific calculator out of his back pocket and offers it up. Chanyeol tucks the basketball under his armpit before taking the calculator and imputing the problem.

“14.33 meters.”

“Right!” Kris congratulates. “Now, basketball.”

“Okay…?” Chanyeol let’s Kris take back the calculator and watches as he bends down, his eyes dragging over his butt for one too brief moment, and then follows him to the 3 point line.

“Shoot from here.” Kris demands.

Chanyeol gets in position and is just about to shoot when Kris grabs his arms and adjusts the angle of his elbows.

“The closer you are to the goal, the wider your shooting arm should be angled.” He explains and Chanyeol nods.

When he shoots, the ball soars neatly into the net with a satisfying swish. He hears Kris clapping as he runs to retrieve the ball and it makes him happy. When he goes back to where he was standing previously, Kris is smiling and Chanyeol feels his stress evaporate.

Kris kisses his cheek.

Chanyeol cups his face with one hand and kisses his lips, soft and slow.

“You’re the best.” He whispers, before kissing him again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chanyeol’s final exam and the big game are on the same day and Chanyeol feels like screaming.

Well, he thought he would feel like screaming.

While he didn’t feel confident by any means, the test wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. However, now that that was over, he’s headed towards the practice gym to meet his teammates for one last run through.

Chanyeol’s got all this nervous energy pent up just looking for a chance to burst out of him, but he’s holding on to it. It’s making him hyper aware of every little movement his teammates are making and that makes him feel better. He knows what’s going on around him, he knows what he has to do to help his team win, and he knows what needs to be done.

That’s going to have to be enough.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

They’re down to the last five minutes, Chanyeol’s playing center offence, and they’re tied, 61 to 61. The other team has been trying to get Chanyeol’s to foul them for a good three minutes now and they’re laying it on so think you’d think they used to play soccer.

The crowd is loud, the cheerleaders are energized, and Chanyeol is on an adrenaline high so fierce no one can stop him.

The scout is sitting at the announcer table taking notes and seems to be having a good time but he can’t be too sure. He’s too busy chasing the ball, keeping the ball away from the other team, watching out for possible traps that could give the opposing team a free throw chance, and, really, bless adrenaline, Chanyeol would be brunt out twice over without it.

Three minutes left and the other team steals the ball from Jongin and Chanyeol grunts, automatically switching to defense and making sure his team got the memo.

Kris and the rest of the cheerleaders are chanting in the bleachers and the home crowd is Very Upset they lost the ball, but the away crowd is glowing and Chanyeol can’t let that keep on.

Two minutes left and his team pretty much as half the opposing team guarded and taken care of. The rest of them are a slippery bunch, though, but Chanyeol just prays they can keep them in check until the game ends.

One minute left and the other team’s center just barely got around Minseok and is trying for a 3-pointer shot and Chanyeol almost has a panic attack as he rushes, in vain, to get to the hoop from half way across the court in time. He’s almost there…

He’s not going to make it in time!

Thankfully, he catches Luhan out of the corner of his eye in a flurry of movement practically fly to the basket and tip the ball before it could make in into the hoop. He doesn’t have time to be relieved, however, because the fall is headed straight for him and if he doesn’t act fast the other team will get possession again.

And that’ll happen over his dead body.

The crowd roars as Chanyeol snatches the ball and dribbles, hard and fast, back to the opposite side of the court. The away team’s crowd is yelling profanities and their cheerleaders are giving false hope and Chanyeol feels alive.

He’s running down the court, fifteen seconds left on the clock, and he’s dodging and weaving around people. When he sees and opening he passes the ball to Jongin.

Jongin maneuvers gracefully down the court, out of reach for the other team, and everyone can see the giant smile he’s wearing as he makes it down court and passes the ball back to Chanyeol.

Seven seconds on the clock and Chanyeol swears he going to make very single one count.

Six seconds and he fakes out the other teams defense.

Five seconds and he shoots.

Four seconds and there’s complete silence as the suspense holds every one hostage.

Three seconds and the ball hits the rims and circles around it like a tease and Chanyeol holds his breath.

Two seconds and the ball starts to tip…

It goes in! The crowd goes wild and the cheerleaders stand up and lead a victory chant and Chanyeol is on cloud nine.

His whole team has a group hug on the sidelines and everyone has their hand somewhere on Chanyeol, telling him how happy they are, how proud they are, how great the game was, and everything else like that and Chanyeol has his biggest smile threatening to split his face in half.

As they break out of the group hug, Chanyeol gets tapped on his back. When he turns around, expecting Kris, he instead gets the Seoul Samsung Thunders scout and he can’t breathe.

The adrenaline and the winning high have his blood pumping so hard he can hear it and it’s distracting him from listening as hard as he wants too, but he goes along as good as he can.

“You were great out there,” he catches. “We like good team players like you, plus you work extremely well under pressure.” He sees the scout smile and feels hope bubble into him.

“Thanks,” he says between gasps. “That means a lot to me.”

The scout laughs good-naturedly and lays a hand on Chanyeol’s sweaty shoulder, “I’m gong to keep an eye on you, Mr. Park. Keep up the good work and there just might be a space for you on our team.”

He winks and then turns to leave and it takes all of Chanyeol’s will power to not explode with happiness.

Jongin, Minseok, Luhan, and Joonmyun are by the water cooler when he races over to tell them the news and they’re just as excited as he is and they make plans to celebrate later and Chanyeol is so happy, he’s’ never been this happy before.

It’s like everything in his life is going right and he’s finally moving on and…

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Kris walking toward him and his heart surges; a warm feeling couples with his outrageous happiness and makes him feel giddy and like his very bones are vibrating.

“You did great!” Kris congratulates, and Chanyeol chooses then to grab his waist and kiss him within an inch of his life. All the happiness, all the excitement and all of his feelings for Kris are in that kiss, and Kris knows it.

When he breaks the kiss, both of he and Kris are flushed and panting.

“Thank you,” he says, “you’re amazing and I might be living my dream soon.”

Kris’ eyes widen, “The scout?”

Chanyeol nods, excited and relieved, and tells him what he said.

“That’s fantastic!” Kris exclaims, smiling widely and looking even happier than Chanyeol. Kris wraps him into a bear hug and kisses him again.

This is how life should always be.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

A week and a half later, Chanyeol is relaxing with Kris in Kris’ dorm room when he gets an email.

He squints his eyes before opening them really wide. “Kris,” he calls over his shoulder, “my final grade is in.”

He hears Kris shift in on the bed, “Check it.”

Taking a deep breath, he logs into the university’s student web page and goes to his math class’s page. He takes his time scrolling down to the grades link.

Kris chuckles, “You’re stalling on purpose.”

“I’m nervous,” he explains.

When he feels Kris’ breath on his shoulder, he smiles.

“Close your eyes and I’ll look,” Kris says.

And that’s exactly what he does.

Kris is quiet for all of three seconds before he softly kisses Chanyeol’s neck. “Open your eyes, cutie.”

When he does, his eyes immediately drop down to the bolded final exam grade, a proud 83.

“I passed!” Chanyeol is over the moon. He shoots out of his chair and turns around to tackle Kris onto the bed.

Kris laughs, “I knew you would!”

“Thank you so, so much, Kris.” Chanyeol wiggles in delight on top of Kris and they both laugh.

“No problem,” Kris brushes off and wraps his arms around Chanyeol’s neck. “You’re a quick learner.”

Chanyeol pecks his lips. “How about we celebrate?” He suggests as he starts to trail kisses down Kris’ neck.

Kris giggles. It’s a new sound and Chanyeol wants to hear it more often. “Celebrate? Is that what that’s called nowadays?”

He moans when Chanyeol sucks on a particularly sensitive spot and Chanyeol smirks. “That’s what I’m going for, cutie.”

Kris lets out another breathy moan and Chanyeol can feel how turned on they both are and he’s happy.

As this semester ends, and the next one begins, Chanyeol will have a future to look forward to, a boyfriend to be with, and friends to go the distance with.

If math taught him anything, it’s to always try your best.

And, if your best isn’t good enough?

Get a Kris.


End file.
